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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169813">A New Perspective</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmallTownWriter12342/pseuds/SmallTownWriter12342'>SmallTownWriter12342</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>But I do want to add more as I get more ideas for it, F/M, Just one part for now, Writing for other OCs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:22:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,280</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmallTownWriter12342/pseuds/SmallTownWriter12342</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is some snippets that I am writing for detectives of @lividlyinlove.(AbsolutelyLivid on Ao3)  It is just Mason for now, but more will likely be added in the future!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Detective/Adam du Mortain, Female Detective/Mason (The Wayhaven Chronicles)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Strange Comfort</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsolutelyLiviD/gifts">AbsolutelyLiviD</a>.</li>



    </ul><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was a request by a lovely anon on tumblr- thank you! ❤</p>
<p>Dialogue Prompt #24- You're Trembling<br/>Pairing: Mason and Cherie<br/>Warning- Book 3 Demo Spoilers!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cherie had finally thought she had Mason figured out.</p><p>But apparently, she did not</p><p>Their first few moments together, she had enjoyed simply flirting with him, knowing he would not take it as anything deeper and she was not going to either.</p><p>The months of separation after what happened with Murphy; however, she was starting to realize that was not the case.</p><p>Because she missed him.</p><p>And she was not sure what exactly she missed about him.</p><p>It was not like he was the friendliest person to be around, and he always seemed to be a general sense of annoyance around her.</p><p>But Cherie had found herself longing to see him anyway, even with something holding her back.</p><p>She did not do causal relationships, wanting to have a true connection with someone, security something that she craved, and she knew that she was never going to get that with Mason.</p><p>Over the events with the past few months with the maa-alused, he seemed to be hanging around her anyway, and even though part of her wanted to give in and finally give in to the feelings that had seemed to overwhelm her mind, she was not going to get herself in the position to get herself hurt.</p><p>
  <em>You know what he wants, and you know what you want.</em>
</p><p>So, for her own sanity, she had been trying to forget about the whole thing, put it aside as if had never happened, hoping he would end up getting bored and wandering off to someone else.</p><p>However, he never did.</p><p>Mason had stayed around anyway, with the normal smirk on his face, and while he not overly pushed it himself, he had been hanging around her, and she was not sure why.</p><p>
  <em>He must know I won’t give him what he wants.</em>
</p><p>She wanted for neither of them to be holding anything back, but she was not willing to let all of her walls come down if he would not do the same around her.</p><p>
  <em>Things need to be open for a relationship to work, and they just aren’t right now.</em>
</p><p>Shortly after the maa-alused situation was when things really started to change.</p><p>There was this semblance of care that she was starting to get from him, almost as if he was concerned for her wellbeing in a way that she was unaware he could be.</p><p>And it was about enough for her to want to finally give in to the temptation.</p><p>
  <em>You can absolutely not go to get all wrapped up all in it because he seemed concerned if you gotten eaten by a pack of werewolves and called you “sweetheart” unsarcastically. It’s pathetic. </em>
</p><p>Cherie would be lying however if it did not make her feel slightly better, especially with what happened with Falk and the rest of the maa-alused.</p><p>It was her own failure that ended with them joining the rogues, she knew it. She could not keep her own mouth shut for a few seconds, and she had ruined everything.</p><p>None of the members of Unit Bravo had made it feel like it was her fault, but she still carried it with her anyway, a constant reminder how she had let down the team when they needed her most.</p><p>She had expected never to hear from Falk at least for a while, and when she got the message that he wished to speak to her again, it immediately put her on edge.</p><p>
  <em>What could he possibly want to discuss?</em>
</p><p>Both Adam and Nate had been against her going in the first place, due to their ties with the rogues, but Cherie felt like she had to go, even if it did not fix anything at all.</p><p>
  <em>There has to be at least a chance that I can repair something.</em>
</p><p>Finally, with the agreement that Mason would go as well, they agreed that she could go, and even though she was not sure how she was feeling about him going with her, she put that all aside.</p><p>And now, she was here, outside of the maa-alused new tent, waiting for the two of them to be let in, but for now, both of them were left out in the cold.</p><p>It was starting to snow, and even as cold as she was, she was not sure if she was trembling from the chill or the anticipation that was making her hands shake, and she could feel her heartbeat race in her ears.</p><p>She looked over at Mason, who had his hands thrust deep in his jacket pockets, his head bent down in his jacket collar as at attempt to keep warm himself, but she noticed that instead of his usual sneer, he was watching her instead.</p><p>“You’re trembling”, he suddenly said, and even with the typical bitter tone, there was a certain softness in his eyes that she was not used to, and she found it hard to look away from it,</p><p>It’s just cold”, she replied, even she knew lying to him was pointless. He was the interrogations expert for a reason.</p><p>“Take it however you want”, she shrugged, moving to tighten her ponytail, that was starting to slip out of its normal spot at the top of her head.</p><p>“Cherie…”, was all that he said in response, and she felt her eyes widen at the use of her name, but she did her best to hide it as best as she could.</p><p>
  <em>No, you aren’t going to get caught up again because he had the basic decency to use your name.</em>
</p><p>“Look, can we just get through this?”</p><p>He sighed, and rolled his eyes, but he did not try to push it any further, turning his head away from her.</p><p>“It’ll be fine”, she said, through she was not sure whether she was saying that more for herself or for him.</p><p>Mason opened his mouth to say something else, but she heard the door of the tent rustle open, and she turned to see Falk.</p><p>Nothing had changed about his since he had seen him last, his pupiless black eyes still as piercing as ever, contrasting heavily against his pale skin. But even with his hard to read eyes, it was plain to see how his face twisted in contempt when he looked at her, and Cherie fought hard to calm the nerves that were starting to form.</p><p>She hardly realized it at first, but Mason had moved closer to her, know only inches away, and while normally she may had pushed him away, she realized just how much she needed some sense of protectiveness at the moment, but she would never say it aloud.</p><p>“Detective Young”, he snarled, narrowing his eyes.</p><p>“What was it that you wanted to discuss, Falk?”, she asked, and she watched as his eyes went up to Mason.</p><p>“You brought the vampiir with you again, I see”, he said, ignoring her question entirely.</p><p>She could feel Mason tense next to her, and almost like he wanted to reach out, but decided not to, and she could deny that a part of her hoped that he would.</p><p>“I did”, she finally muttered, “Let’s get down to business, shall we?”</p><p>Falk stared at her a minute longer, before giving no more than a small nod, and he turned to enter the tent, and Cherie slowly followed him, Mason not leaving her side as she did so.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I was going to finish all of the 31 Days before doing requests, but I was having massive writers block out of nowhere and it was incredibly frustrating. But then I got this idea, and well, I ran with it haha. As I said before, this is not my detective, it is actually @lividlyinlove's (AbsolutelyLivid on Ao3) I'm not sure how often I'll update this, but it will out there anyway. :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Right Place, Right Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is another one for Cherie and Mason of @lividlyinlove's detective Cherie! I hope you like it!<br/>Prompt- "Was that supposed to hurt?"<br/>This was requested by a lovely anon on tumblr, thank you!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mason really hated arguing with Cherie.</p><p>And he especially hated how it was becoming all they were doing whenever they were around each other.</p><p>
  <em>She just makes everything so damn confusing.</em>
</p><p>He knew that he had no reason to act like he was hers, and he would have never expected her to act like she was tethered to him either, but it did not calm the sudden sting that he barely understood.</p><p>
  <em>Why does this keep happening?</em>
</p><p>And he was not quite sure how to put it, but he was <em>worried</em> for her. She had been beating herself up since things had gone south with Falk and the maa-alused.</p><p>But he did not know how to bring this up to her, and every attempt to even mention it ended with one of the storming out of the room.</p><p>Part of Mason almost wanted to ask Nate what to do, but that foolish idea was bitten down the next moment.</p><p>
  <em>How would you even explain what’s going on?</em>
</p><p>He was still did not understand why he could not just move past from all of this.</p><p>
  <em>She’s not interested.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And it’s okay that she’s not.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But why do I feel like I can’t move on?</em>
</p><p>No matter what he did, however, he had not been able to.</p><p>
  <em>She wants more in relationship then I do.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But what do I really want?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I don’t know anymore.</em>
</p><p>Cherie had been doing everything to avoid him these past few days, but he decided he was going to say something.</p><p>Mason was not sure why he had the sudden urge to say something about it, but it was not one that he was going to let go unnoticed.</p><p>
  <em>I need to get this all out in the open.</em>
</p><p>He finally worked up the nerve to go striding into her office, and she turned as he entered.</p><p>“What are you doing here Mason?”, she said, a slight bite in her voice that never seemed to leave around him. She raised one of her eyebrows, when he did not answer immediately, and it was hard not to take the challenge in her brown eyes.</p><p>
  <em>You are going to do with what you came here to do.</em>
</p><p>“We need to talk”, was all that he could say, and for a reason he could not understand why, he felt his chest sink when she scoffed.</p><p>“What could we possibly have to talk about?”, she replied.</p><p>He felt a glare form on his face on his face before he knew it, and he growled out, “The maa-alused” </p><p>“Oh, you’re going to bring that up?”, she demanded, her voice starting to rise, “Remind me again how it was failure, why don’t you?”</p><p>“This isn’t about that”</p><p>“Then what is this about, <em>Mason</em>?”, she said, spitting out his name in a way that made his skin crawl.</p><p>He struggled to find the right words to say, the words that would put everything in a neat little package and fully convey what he wanted to.</p><p>And instead, it all came out wrong, and he knew it.</p><p>“I don’t like this sudden change in you that happened after what happened with the maa-alused”</p><p>
  <em>Shit</em>
</p><p>He regretted saying it as soon as he did, but it was too late now to take it back, and even though Mason turned his head away, he could hear Cherie’s heart pound.</p><p>“Wow, was that supposed to hurt?”, she weakly laughed, and she gave him the fakest smile he had ever seen, “You are going to have to try harder than that”</p><p>“Cherie…”, he stammered out before he could stop himself.</p><p>“You’re going to use my name now?”, she seethed, and then her voice went quiet, “I don’t even know why I try with you”</p><p>Frustration started to crawl at him, and he felt his fists clench.</p><p>
  <em>This isn’t how this was supposed to go.</em>
</p><p>He could feel just how hurt she was even a few feet away from him, regardless of how she was acting, and he had the sudden desire to reach out to her, but he knew she would immediately pull away if he did.</p><p>
  <em>It’s not going to end with one of us leaving.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Not this time.</em>
</p><p>“It wasn’t your fault”, he suddenly said.</p><p>The anger disappeared from her face for a look one of confusion instead, “What are you talking about?”</p><p>“The maa-alused joining the rouges”, he said, “They made their decision”</p><p>“And are you going to act like if I had handled it different, it may not have happened?”, the bite in her voice, but the challenge gone from her eyes, and he tried to hide a sigh of relief from seeing that.</p><p>“You don’t know that”, he replied, “No one does. But you’re not going to solve anything from beating yourself up”</p><p>
  <em>I can tell you that right now</em>
</p><p>His words came out nonchalantly, but the weight was there.</p><p>Cherie’s eyebrows dipped down, and he watched her hostile stance, a stance that even though she was only 5’0”, could still be found intimidating.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess I know that”, she said, keeping her eyes pointedly away from him, “Doesn’t make it any easier”</p><p> Mason was not quite sure what to say, and he doubted he ever would, but he answered anyway,</p><p>“We’ll deal with it all as it comes”, he muttered, and she finally met his eyes.</p><p>“And what everything ends up worse because of it?”</p><p>“Then we handle that”, he replied, and he saw the ghost of a smile on her face before it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. </p><p>“We will”, she breathed out, and she opened her mouth to say something else, but she bit it back down.</p><p>He took that moment to leave, not having anything to add, and just when he was about to, he heard her voice.</p><p>“Mason?”</p><p>He turned, and he watched her give a shuddering breath.</p><p>“Thank you”</p><p>He nodded at her, and continued to leave, feeling better that they had ended their conversation on better terms. </p><p>
  <em>Maybe there could still be hope.</em>
</p><p>Mason felt himself give a scowl at that.</p><p>
  <em>Of what exactly?</em>
</p><p>He shook his head to put that line of questioning of out his mind, and he continued down the hallway.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Give Me Something</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was requested by the lovely @pearlsandsteel on tumblr! Thank you!<br/>#31- "I can't keep kissing strangers and pretending that they're you"</p>
<p>My Adam detective is just as much as an emotionally repressed dumbass that he is (though, she's becoming slightly better), and the other detective that I have been writing Adam with would never ever say this (she's way too sweet, and she would not try and find other people to fix her own feelings) So, I borrowed a detective, and it made this one! Also, this is my longest request ever, finishing at 3k words. I hope you enjoy! :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She had never met someone who infuriated her so much.</p>
<p>                But she also had never met someone who drew her in like he did.</p>
<p>                Kira had long given up ever figuring Adam out. She had grown tired of the constant back and forth that he took her on, and she wanted to move on from whatever it was. The fleeting attraction that she had, act like it had never happened. Like she knew he would do.</p>
<p>                And goddammit she had <em>tried</em>. Finally accept that he was never going to thaw his icy shell that had formed over the past 900 years, and she was not going to be one to do so for him, even if she wanted to. Only he could so, and he seemed hardly interested in that, preferring to continue to hide whatever was stirring inside of him for the rest of his immortal life.</p>
<p>                <em>Does that drive you crazy Adam? Having to try and figure out what the hell this is for eternity?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                I know it would if it were me</em>
</p>
<p>                She had gone on a few dates, a desperate attempt to move on, keeping them a secret from the rest of the team, and while she had internally rationalized that she was doing so in order to keep Felix or even Nate from asking her questions about them, but it was really about Adam. Kira wondered just how he would react if he knew, and while part of her wanted him to feel the confliction from all and maybe just actually say <em>something</em>, but she was not going to push it. At least not yet.</p>
<p>                <em>It’s just some fun, a nice night out. There is nothing serious about them.</em></p>
<p>But she was starting to fear that there never would be. Nothing about them made her want to go back on another, as if it was missing something, but what that was, she had no idea.</p>
<p>                <em>All of them have been nice, and most of them are much more open then Adam is, not like that is particularly hard to be.</em></p>
<p>                <em>What possibly more could you want?</em></p>
<p>This is all came into a head after one particular date with a guy from the big city who was staying in Wayhaven for a couple of days.</p>
<p>                She ran into him on her walk to work, and he was nice. He seemed genuinely happy to talk to her, an easy smile never leaving his face, and was not trying to push her away the whole time, doing anything to avoid even seeing her.</p>
<p>                <em>Like a certain someone I know.</em></p>
<p>But one thing that drew him to her immediately were his eyes.</p>
<p>                They were a gorgeous green, but unlike Adam’s cold icy eyes, they were dark, as the color of the darkest evergreen forest, the kind that was still just as vibrant even under snow in the bitterest of winters. They were almost soothing to look into, never becoming fraught with hardness, just openness. Kindness. All the things she was not used to.</p>
<p>                He asked her out on a date, laughing as he did so, and told her it was on a complete whim that he did so, but she graciously accepted, already finding him intriguing, so different then what she was used to, almost a night and day difference.</p>
<p>                They went out together the next night, and everything about it was magical. As if was a scene in a movie, sweet and easy, smiles shared between them that she hoped would never die, drinking in all of the things that he told about himself, but she noticed there was some hesitance when talking about herself, but she was not sure why.</p>
<p>                <em>He’s fine talking about himself, why aren’t you?</em></p>
<p>                It hit her like a slap across her face when she realized that she never had this trouble with Adam, stubborn and annoying as he could be, even with her own fears of vulnerability. He drew things from her anyway, and she could never understand why. It was not like he seemed to care anyway, nor would he ever.</p>
<p>                <em>You are not going to think about him tonight. </em></p>
<p><em>                It’s not about him</em>.</p>
<p>                Though she knew that he noticed her suddenly get quieter, he did not say anything about it, but she did the slightest tinge of confusion in his eyes, and Kira focused on keeping a smile on her face to drown it all out. Tonight, was not to mope about a guy who pushed her away whenever they got close. She was going to enjoy herself, make the most of tonight, with a new guy where maybe there could be something more, even if it was too early to tell just yet.</p>
<p>                The date ended with him dropping her off at her apartment, the sun having long set in the horizon, and she noticed that from the bright lights outside the door, his eyes looked paler than they did earlier, and it only reminded her of the person that she was trying so desperately to forget.</p>
<p>                She almost pushed him away at the sight, being confronted with the sudden rush of guilt, though she was not sure why.</p>
<p>                <em>You’re not his girlfriend, it’s not like you’re cheating on him.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                Then why does it feel like I am?</em>
</p>
<p>But she put that out of her mind, and as the pair continued to gaze at each other, as if they were the only two people in the world, she felt herself move forward, and their lips met in a kiss.</p>
<p>                It was not a long kiss, but there was sweet feeling there all the same, but then she could see Adam’s green eyes in her mind, and just for a second, she allowed herself to imagine if it had been him, and felt her pulse race at the thought, and she pulled him closer to her, forgetting all about who it actually was and allowing herself to imagine.</p>
<p>                And for a few precious seconds, it almost seemed true, her wildest dreams that she had longed pushed away.</p>
<p>                But that illusion could not last forever.</p>
<p>                When Kira opened her eyes back up, and as she stared into her date’s eyes, his eyes still as gentle and open as they had been all night, horror started to fill her, and she could feel her stomach drop in dread.</p>
<p>                <em>What are you doing?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                This isn’t fair to him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                It’s not his fault he’s not the one you want him to be</em>
</p>
<p>She pulled back from his touch immediately, freaking herself out over everything that was happening, his hands starting to shake.</p>
<p>                “Kira, are you alright?”, she heard him say, worry filling his features, “Did I- “</p>
<p>                “No”, she stated firmly, “You did nothing wrong. This is all my doing”</p>
<p>                He opened his mouth to say something else, but she cut him off, “I’m sorry”</p>
<p>                She entered her apartment after that, guilt filling her stomach, and as soon as she closed the door behind her, she sank to the ground, burying her face in her hands, trying hard not to let the frustrated tears spill down her cheeks.</p>
<p>                <em>Why can’t he leave my head?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                I want to move on, finally accept that he’s never going to admit anything for the rest of his immortal life.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                But I can’t.</em>
</p>
<p>She was tired of all of this, this confusing mess of feelings. Kira wanted it all to <em>end</em>, stop pining after someone who would never give in to what she knew they both wanted deep down. For everything that he did that had just hurt the both in the end, even if he would never admit that.</p>
<p>                Damn it, she had even kissed <em>Bobby</em>. Her absolute scumbag of an ex, because she had been <em>hurt. </em>She knew that she should have not have, but when he leaned in closer to kiss her, she kissed him back, needing anything to get off her mind off eavesdropping on Adam and Nate’s conversation after the carnival. Him admitting that he felt nothing, when her own mind was such a mine field on confused emotions affected her more then she expected it to.</p>
<p>                <em>“But you do have those feelings?”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                "No, I do not."</em>
</p>
<p>                Kira had been trying to avoid crying the whole ride home back to her apartment, and when she finally got home, she was far too drained and hurt to even refuse Bobby’s offer to come in, even if about every rational part of her told herself it was a horrible idea for a countless number of reasons.</p>
<p>                It was a definite moment of weakness from her, and one that she knew that he would shove back in her face more likely sooner then later, and as much as she regretted, she was not sure if that she could go back, she would be able to do anything different then what she had done.</p>
<p>                Maybe that spoke to her own maturity, but she could hardly care.</p>
<p>                <em>How else was I supposed to react?</em></p>
<p>She could not just keep finding other people to put her heartbreak on, trying to make them into someone they were not, since molding someone into you want them to be, breaking apart what made them special in the first place was the last thing she wanted to do.</p>
<p>                <em>How long is this going on?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                Will months, even years, past, and I’ll still feel like this?</em>
</p>
<p>A painful thought entered her brain, of her meeting someone, it all seeming to be working out, but sometimes, there would be times when all she would see was someone that she was trying so hard to get over.</p>
<p>                <em>They say moving on is the hardest part.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                But will I ever actually ever be able to?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                Or will I be stuck in this never-ending limbo forever?</em>
</p>
<p>There was no way she was going to have another night like this again, as tempting as it might be. It was not fair to the other person, to have someone who was pinning for someone else, and no matter who it was, they deserved better then that. Her date tonight deserved better than that.</p>
<p>                <em>Should I apologize?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                Should I explain the situation?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                What would I even say?</em>
</p>
<p>Kira resigned herself to the fact that there was nothing that she could say that would even make sense at all to anyone except herself, and she knew that it was best to part ways before anything became too out of hand.</p>
<p>                <em>I suppose for him, it’s lucky that it happened tonight</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                It’s a lot less of dragging him along with my own hurt feelings, while I try to desperately find some semblance of a person that he is not.</em>
</p>
<p>Shaking the night out of her brain, she got up from off the guard, and she walked through her apartment to go ahead and head to bed, even though she knew she was going to be awake for hours, staring at the ceiling, hoping this would all go away.</p>
<p>                She heard the soft padding of footsteps and the light clicks of a collar, and she barely made out her miniature schnauzer Wolfgang in the dark, his already black coat besides the small white patch on his chest making him almost invisible in the dark. He normally would have been asleep at this time of night, so she was surprised to see him still awake.</p>
<p>                “Hey bud”, she said as he padded the side of her bed as I plea to get up, and she reached over to pick him up and set her on top of the bed with her, “Everything’s kind of a mess right now, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>                Kira ran her hands down his thick coat, scratching behind his ears as he settled into a crook in her bed, the motion soothing her brain slightly, “At least you’re still here. You don’t make things complicated”</p>
<p>                She could swear she almost saw him a slight of a nod of his head on the dark, and she chuckled at the sight of it, and she settled back down on her bed, and even though sleep never called her, her mind still too overactive to even try and figure out anything, it was calming none the less, even if she still had no idea at what to do.</p>
<p>                <em>I feel like if I do fall asleep, I’ll dream, and I don’t think I want to.</em></p>
<p>                Before she knew it, she could hear her alarm go off on her phone, and she had not gotten a wink of sleep the whole time. She was tired, her eyelids feeling heavy but she would still not allow herself to sleep, and knowing that she would have to start her day regardless, she dragged herself out of bed, realizing she needed to go by the warehouse this morning.</p>
<p>                But there was a pit of dread in her stomach as she realized she was going to have to see Adam today.</p>
<p>                <em>Why are you so worried about this?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                It’s not like he’s not avoiding you right now anyway.</em>
</p>
<p>Sighing, she got up to get ready for today, trying hard to ignore the dark circles that had formed around her eyes.</p>
<p>                <em>I look like an absolute wreck.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                Congrats, me.</em>
</p>
<p>She pulled her clothes on, filling Wolfgang’s dog bowl before leaving, making sure he had everything he needed before she had to leave. She normally would eat breakfast, but she was still not feeling normal after last night, so she ended up leaving anyway.</p>
<p>                <em>This is all such a mess.</em></p>
<p>It did not take her long to make her way to the warehouse, and the first thing that Kira noticed was that Adam was standing outside, staring at the horizon as she drove up the warehouse.</p>
<p>                <em>What is he doing out here?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                I know well enough he’s not waiting for me</em>
</p>
<p>“Detective Eveli”, he remarked as she walked up to him.</p>
<p>                She fought hard to suppress the growl in her throat. It was not fair how at the second they were seeming to be getting closer, he would just push her away again, and this forced formality he had insisted on using was starting to grate on her, almost making her skin crawl.</p>
<p>                It was strange to her why she was getting so upset now, but after last night, she was a shell of repressed emotions, and they were threatening to overspill on any person that dared talk to her today.</p>
<p>                Shame (or perhaps not) that had to be the person that all of this was about in the first place.</p>
<p>                “It’s <em>Kira</em>, Adam”, she spat out, her blue eyes holding his eyes in a glare, “You might as well have the decently to use it”</p>
<p>                “I find that rather unnecessary”, he replied, the faint echoes of a scowl filling his face.</p>
<p>                “After everything that has happened, I think it’s quite necessary actually”, she said back, “It’s the least you could do”</p>
<p>                “I fail to see what you mean”, he almost whispered, almost hesitant, turning his head to face away from her, and she could not tell if he was truly ignorant or was feigning it.</p>
<p>                “You’re still going to act like this?”, she demanded, “Like nothing was going on between us?”</p>
<p>                She was not sure why she asked such a question, or what had even compelled her to ask it, but she hardly cared at the moment. After everything that was going through her brain, he had to at least share all of this in her head. She refused to think she was the only one struggling with this.</p>
<p>                “There was nothing”, he growled, but the sudden hesitance in his eyes that he worked hard to bury said otherwise.</p>
<p>                “I can’t believe you, you know that”, she huffed out, crossing her arms almost subconsciously, “We hold hands <em>once</em> and then you act like you can’t be around me anymore”</p>
<p>                Frustration just rose in her voice as he refused to answer, instead noticing that he swallowed hard, “I don’t understand any of this more then you do, you know that? I should have done what you told me to do and save Sanja, but goddammit, Adam, I <em>couldn’t.</em> I couldn’t leave you when you needed me”</p>
<p>                Kira felt the sting of tears at the edge of her eyes, and she fought hard to keep them from streaming down her face, as much as they begged her to, “I’m sick of all of this. I can’t take it anymore. You can’t keep drawing me in and then pushing me back out. It’s not fair”</p>
<p>                She took a shuddering breath, and she finally dared herself to look back at Adam, who was unsurprisingly, looking away from her, his shoulders tighter than she had ever seen them before. He looked more like a statue then he normally did.</p>
<p>                “I’ve tried to move on, you know”, she whispered, and his head snapped back to look at her, and the sudden intense gaze almost made her forget what she wanted to say, “Finally accept you’re never going to let your walls down. But it keeps me coming back to the ugly truth, a truth that I’ve been hiding from myself for so long”</p>
<p>                “I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretending that they’re you”</p>
<p>                “Kira…”, Adam breathlessly whispered, and she could feel her hands clench, and she looked back into his eyes, narrowing her own.</p>
<p>                “You’re going to use my name now, huh?”, she scoffed, “Or are you just coming to go back after this? Speak now, or forever hold your peace”</p>
<p>                When he did not deign to reply, she could feel her shoulders slump, but she tried to hide it, “Of course. See you later I guess”</p>
<p>                She then walked to the door of the warehouse, the tears in her eyes starting to break through as she turned away from Adam and walked inside, wondering what can compelled her to say what she did in the first place.</p>
<p>                <em>But it doesn’t matter now, and it never mattered</em></p>
<p>
  <em>                Nothing is ever going to change.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                No matter what you say, no matter how much you beg.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                Nothing is ever going to change.</em>
</p>
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